Fase V Comunicación de Resultados

With this study we wish to present Rosslea: a ―new‖ megafaunal fossil site on New Zealand‘s South Island. The excavated material from Rosslea is likely to represent only a small fraction of the contents of the deposit. The genetic species identifications of the recovered material matched the

morphological assessment and demonstrated the presence of the three most common moa species, of the late Holocene, North Canterbury fossil fauna. Although there were no taxonomic surprises, the Rosslea collection adds another piece in the puzzle towards understanding one of the last ecosystems on the planet to be invaded by humans.

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The inclusion of the Rosslea fossils allowed for a much more detailed assessment of ancient DNA degradation through time than has been achieved before. We demonstrate here, an exponential degradation of DNA, probably determined by the depurination rate followed by strand breakage. The considerable variation observed even between contemporary samples from the same site, indicates why many previous studies with more limited data, have failed to demonstrate this association between preservation and time. The three fossil assemblages displayed different patterns in molecular decay, which is interesting in light of their proximity in space and time. The results suggest that a simple of model of temperature-dependent DNA degradation is insufficient to describe ancient DNA quality, at least when comparing material recovered within temperate regions. The preservation of DNA in the Rosslea material proved relatively poor, although the moa bones were sampled soon after excavation, which suggests that fossils from such sites should be sampled as soon as possible after recovery. Further degradation in storage might result in the remaining DNA being fragmented beyond accessibility.

We have discussed several hypotheses to explain the observed differences in DNA degradation, but the situation appears to be complex. A thorough study of the physical and chemical sediment

properties at each site would be required to resolve this issue. It seems unquestionable, however, that the North Canterbury fossil sites hold the potential for a highly informative comparative investigation, offering unique insight into the factors affecting long-term preservation of DNA in fossils and

sediments.

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Chapter 3: Identifying microsatellites in the moa